


Numb

by AwokenMonster



Category: Are You The One? (Season 8), Are you the one?
Genre: Heartbreak, I ship them shut up, M/M, Songfic - Numb by Dotan, The one thing everyone wants to know about Justin & Max, Throwing shade on Jonathan sorrynotsorry, Truth Booth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 20:21:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20070010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwokenMonster/pseuds/AwokenMonster
Summary: What if the truth booth for Max and Justin turned their confidence of being a perfect match, into a huge disappointment?Rated T cause of the show's nature, but it's just angst/hurt in this one-shot.





	Numb

**Author's Note:**

> Monster: Hi, guys! First time I'm writing anything outside of bandoms. I ship this couple so hard that I'm dreading next episode for Max' little "I'm not so sure Justin is my match anymore" so I think that Max' reaction in this one-shot is just how I'd feel and Max would be a lot calmer in real life, but fuck it. Enjoy!
> 
> Story takes place after the blackout matchup where they send Justin & Max into a truth booth instead of Aasha & Brandon, I guess. So a bit of an alternate version of episode 7 Red Flag Alert.
> 
> I'm honoured to be the first to write an AYTO fic using the AYTO characters, but also scared? Be gentle lol
> 
> The italics are the lyrics of Numb by Dotan which was a fitting song for this story.

_I’ve been lost inside a million eyes. They don’t see me, they don’t know what it’s like._

Max stared at the screen, eyes glazed over. He knew what the words were, he knew what they were supposed to mean but they held no meaning in that moment. He could only feel the shiver down his spine and the clammy hand in his own snatching itself away from him. The hand vanished like it had been burnt from touching Max’ skin when the message had appeared.

_Trading colours into black and white. No one’s reading all the words that I write._

He turned to look at the person standing next to him. This man that he had felt so strongly for, that he’d been falling in love with since the moment he had dared to admit what he might start to feel for him. Justin. It felt like they were moving in slow motion. He could see Justin’s hands covering his face, a deep disappointment engraved in his features.

He felt the same pain in that exact moment.

NO MATCH

_Try to swim but I’m sinking alone. Always falling into the deep unknown._

There must have been a mistake, Max thought. In that moment, the slow motion returned to real time as a worried frown occupied his features. “You’re wrong.”

_Now I’m fighting with my hands up, hands up. _

He clenched his jaw. “The matchmakers could have never foreseen that we would connect on this level. They ask you what you’re looking for in a person but even when all of the circumstances and the person are ideal in theory, the spark needs to be there. We’ve got the spark and we’ve grown to become each other’s ideal. That has to count for something.”

Justin shrugged. “I don’t think it works that way, Max.”

_Feel the bullets from your head rush, head rush. I can see you but I can’t touch, can’t touch._

“Why not?” Max grumbled. “I don’t wanna split up over some stupid show. You’re MY match and I’m ready to just go home and be with you. Who the fuck cares about the game? I don’t.”

“I do”, Justin whispered. “The experts must see something in us that’s not alright. Maybe we don’t see it now, but maybe we would see it in a few months and then the break would hurt a lot more. I wanna find my perfect match.”

_Cause I feel numb_

“We’re the match”, Max argued. “We were gonna fight for this. We were gonna give them hell, remember?”

Justin avoided his seeking eyes, giving an answer already but Max needed to hear him say it. “Are you giving up on me?”

The other nodded. “I have to. For this game. You saw what happened with Jenna and Kai.”

_So infected with your bad blood, bad blood. Keep on running till it blows up, blows up._

“Jenna and Kai?” Max scoffed. “They had a physical passion like ours but they were not at all compatible. We are. We’ve agreed on every little thing since we put the Aasha-thing behind us. We’re a power couple. Not like Jenna and Kai.”

Justin stared past Max at the floor. He only wanted to leave the truth booth and just go back into the house so he could process this on his own. He didn’t want to argue with Max right now.

“The matchmakers had no clue that I would fall in love with you. They couldn’t have known we would become a perfect match along the way!”

“Max, stop”, Justin finally spoke up, a lot louder than before, stern in a way that made Max pause for a second. “You’re not my match.”

“But doesn’t it count for something that I-I love you?” Max struggled to speak, only to be met with a blank expression from Justin.

_All I wanted was a real love, but I feel numb_.  


All along Max had known it would be like this. None of them had wanted to say it out loud but they knew that as soon as it said “no match”, Justin would shut down on them both because he allowed himself to _feel_ something for Max. He opened up about his past, about his fear of getting close to someone, didn’t push Max away despite the screaming voice in his head that kept yelling “They’re gonna rip him away from you again”.

They finally did it. They ripped them apart like it was nothing. With a simple message on the screen.

“We were never perfect to begin with”, Justin muttered, making a move to step out of the truth booth. He caught the sudden hurt striking Max’ face out of the corner of his eye. “We were stuck in the honeymoon phase cocoon like doctor Frankie said.”

Max couldn’t figure out where that came from. Justin had told him they were too perfect not to be a perfect match _before entering the truth booth_. Now he changed his mind?

Justin left the truth booth, Max trailing behind him. He could’ve sworn he heard a monotonous beep ring his ears, like he’d literally heard this relationship flatline. What an idiot, he’d been. This show is all about finding your perfect match, it was too dangerous to be in love with an unconfirmed match. Justin probably didn’t even love him – yet – and now he never would.

What a mess he’d gotten himself into. The walk to the house was a walk of shame, but not the fun type of walk of shame. While a confirmed no match was usually met with support, soft words or lashing out in disappointment, the pair didn’t get any of that. No one dared to say a thing when they walked in. They must’ve been just as shocked. After Kylie and Kari, Amber & Nour being a no match, everyone had put their eggs in the basket of “Maxtin”. Well shit, Maxtin was no more. Max could see people whispering, even caught a glimpse of Jonathan saying “I told you so” to Basit. Whatever made him feel better about blacking out next to Justin, right?

Max’ eyes lifted to look at Justin but Justin seemed a million miles away from him.

_Silent voices to a distant crowd. I’m still singing but there’s no one around_.  


“Are you okay?” Paige asked and Max needed a moment to realize she was talking to him. “I-… No? I mean. Some stupid game show is telling me who I should and shouldn’t love. Like fuck this, Justin is my fucking match.”

“I’m not”, Justin called out across the room now. The group scattered on the couch and in the kitchen stared at the ordeal, Max feeling like they were watching them like hawks. The whole house thought they were a poor couple until the blackout. That’s when their mindset switched all the way and suddenly Maxtin was THE couple!

“Yes, you are”, Max called out. “If you’re supposed to play this game with your heart, then it was supposed to FUCKING SAY PERFECT MATCH!”

“But it didn’t!” Justin yelled back, now nearing Max. “We have to keep playing this game.”

“I don’t care about the game. I care about you!” Max exploded.

_I keep screaming till my lungs run out. But no one listens. No more words coming out_.

  
“I care about you too”, Justin spoke, hushed words, more like Max knew him. His comforting, sweet self. He still felt a million miles away but the longing to travel that distance to be held again, was overwhelming. “I love you. You know that.”

There was a strange silence in the house, like Max had broken some boundaries by saying that, but it was true and it had been becoming more real with each passing day.

Justin took Max’ hand, a small flutter in his chest whispered that maybe Justin had changed his mind. Maybe he didn’t care about the game and wanted to run off with Max. Go home together. Be together. Not give a shit about this place and its perfect matches anymore, or the money, fuck the money. “You’re making a scene.”

A simple sentence crushed his expectations within seconds.

_Low, feel the weight of the world in my bones_.

“I was rooting for you guys”, Remy piped up. “But you have to find your perfect match. Only then, you’ll notice what wasn’t perfect for you in each other.”

Max shook his head. “Like I’m staying. Fuck this.”

He ran off, vanishing into the room first but he figured people could follow him there so he locked himself into the bathroom a little further. It was petty to lock himself into the bathroom but he needed to be alone, to think, to set things straight for himself.

_Try to swim but I'm sinking alone. Always falling in the deep unknown_

He didn’t wanna cry but the burning in his throat was overwhelming and it only enraged him. Fuck this game, he gritted his teeth, slamming his fist into the wall. It sent a blinding pain through his wrist, but all he could think of, was “good, maybe they’ll send me home if I’m injured.”

Max wanted nothing more than to go home, forget this show ever took place but there was a small voice in his head telling him to take Justin home with him. He had expected Justin to deny the “no match” just as much, to tell him they’d figure this out. Hadn’t this happened before in previous seasons? That a no match stayed together and remained together after the show had ended? Max had figured that would be Justin and him if they weren’t a match but he’d mainly thought they would be heading to the honeymoon suite now.

_Now I’m fighting with my hands up, hands up_. _Feel the bullets from your head rush, head rush._

“Max?”

Max unlocked the bathroom door, allowed Justin entry because he was weak. He wanted time alone, he wanted time to hate Justin for dropping him like this over a stupid message from the matchmakers, but he’d always give Justin more chances – he knew that. Maybe it was one of their flaws.

_I can see you but I can’t touch, can’t touch._ _Cause I feel numb._

Justin stepped closer to wrap his arms around Max. “I know it hurts.”

“Do you? You seem to move on without me perfectly”, Max grumbled, accepting the embrace nonetheless but the tears were starting to break through. He hated crying. He hadn’t cried on camera for Justin and Aasha’s mistake and he didn’t want to cry on camera again, but it was inevitable at this point so he let the sobs break through. Justin sighed, deeper than he’d ever sighed, he felt. He drew small circles on Max’ back, trying to calm him down. “You know I’m better at pulling up a wall than you.”

Max looked up and into Justin’s eyes, seeing the heartbreak in his gaze as well. “I love you too.”

_All I ever wanted, was a real love, but I feel numb._

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment, they're our heavy fuel. I fear Maxtin's not gonna be a match and that's really gonna pop my bubble for this romance, but fuck it, I'm gonna ship it until I see it debunked on the show... and still ship it after that.


End file.
